Mississippi State's Rick Stansbury on retirement: 'I'm ready to become a better father'

Rick Stansbury won 293 games at Mississippi State, the most in school history. (Associated Press)

After 14 years at the helm of Mississippi State's basketball program, Rick Stansbury announced his retirement Thursday, saying it was time for him to spend more time with his family.

"I'm at a point now, I'm ready to become a better father, a better husband," said an emotional Stansbury, who along with his wife Meo has three sons: Luke, 8, Noah, 10, and Isaac, 13.

"Every time I walk out the door, Luke would say: 'Daddy, when you got the day off?' I'd give him the same answer: 'Soon,'" Stansbury said. "In his last three years of playing soccer, you know how many games I've seen?"

He held up one finger. "That's tough," he said.

Stansbury, 52, leaves with a record of 293-164, two SEC titles and six NCAA tournament berths. His 293 wins are the most in MSU history and ninth-most in SEC history. But his last two seasons have been disappointing, with the Bulldogs going 17-13 and missing the postseason last year and finishing 21-12 this season after dropping seven of their last nine games, including a first-round NIT loss to UMass.

A CBSSports.com report cited unnamed sources in saying Stansbury was forced out. But Stansury said Thursday he reached the decision to retire in mutual agreement with Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin.

"We both agreed that we've had a couple of disappointing years (by) our standards, which we created," Stansbury said. "Nobody to blame but me for that.

"A lot of coaches can stay at one spot too long," he added. "I don't want to be one of those coaches. I want to be able ... to step away from this when it's my decision. You can stay to a point when it's somebody else's decision."

Stricklin said he met with Stansbury for 2 1/2 hours on Wednesday, but said the coach did most of the talking.

"I did a lot of listening and let Rick talk through what was going on in his heart and his head," Stricklin said. "When you're faced with a situation where you have options, it's good. And Rick was in a situation where he had options.

"On behalf of the university, this place owes Rick and Meo a huge thank you," he added.

Stansbury said he plans to remain in Starkville and Stricklin said he asked the coach to stay involved in the school's athletic program, although his role remains unclear. Stansbury would not close the door fully on a return to coaching at some point in the future.

"Do I want to coach again? Right now, I will say no," he said. "Does that change in a month, six months, a year? I don't know."

Stansbury, who spent eight years as an assistant at Mississippi State before taking the head job, took time during the press conference to thank his assistants, players, MSU support staff, boosters and the media.

"If you'd told us 14 years ago we could have the success we've had, I think we all would have taken it," he said. "Whoever Scott decides to hire as a head coach, everybody get right behind him. He's going to need your support. He'll have ours 100 percent. ... He'll get a coach better than me."